1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains in general to managing privacy on public websites, and more specifically to deriving content of a social network private site based on analysis of the user's social networking friends.
2. Description of the Related Art
Social networking websites have opened up many new avenues to building a social network by allowing people to share information online and connect to a wide range of different users. Social networking websites, such as FACEBOOK®, MYSPACE®, and LINKEDIN®, allow users to build online profiles/sites including information about the users that can be made available to other users in the network. The user can typically post photos, send messages, comment on friends' sites, join user groups, and generally interact and build online communities of users who share common interests. The amount and types of information that can be shared in these social networking environments is vast, and a given user's network can grow over time as the user connects to more and more other users.
With this current social networking phenomenon, however, comes an increased focus on privacy concerns. Displaying personal information about yourself on a public website allows you to engage more actively in social networking. However, this also allows other potentially unwanted viewers to see your information and opens the door to various forms of privacy violations. Many social networking websites permit a user profile site to be marked “public” or marked “private,” or otherwise allow the user to limit who can see his information. In this manner, a user can allow his site to be made available on the social networking website to anyone who visits the site (a public site) or can choose to only let the people he approves as “friends” view his site (a private site).
Yet, there are many reasons why it may be useful to have some access to these private sites or to know more about the patterns of networking their users are employing. For computer security purposes, including detection of spam or malicious activity on a website, it is often necessary to learn more about social networking activity. However, without any information on the networking activity of private site users, it is impossible to get the full picture that may be needed to provide proper security.
Further, with more and more children connecting via social networks, there is an increased risk that important and potentially sensitive information will be released. People, being sometimes naïve to the negative impact of sharing too much information about themselves or their families, may be compromising their own privacy. Even on supposedly private sites, people sometimes share confidential details with their “friends.” While it is possible for others to see what information is being shared on public profiles, there is no way to understand what may be occurring on private profiles. Knowing more about the social networking activity of private profile users, thus, could be helpful in this regard.
Social networking websites also have an interest in gathering more information about private users. To provide better services and continue to upgrade their features, it is helpful to gather information about the social networking activities in which users are engaged. To understand the full picture, however, social networking services must also have an understanding of what private users are doing.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a solution that provides a way to learn about the content of private sites.